What now for the EU and Turkey?

The EU and Turkey each face internal, regional and global challenges. The EU-funded FEUTURE project is examining the dynamics of these challenges. Its recommendations will help policymakers make informed decisions on future relations between the EU and Turkey.

What now for the EU and Turkey?

The EU and Turkey each face internal, regional and global challenges. The EU-funded FEUTURE project is examining the dynamics of these challenges. Its recommendations will help policymakers make informed decisions on future relations between the EU and Turkey.

Amid a global power shift, with Britain preparing to leave the EU and Turkey facing growing polarisation between state and civil society, the regional roles of Turkey and the EU are coming into question. FEUTURE’s researchers are examining factors in six key areas affecting the future of the EU and Turkey: politics, security, economics, energy, migration and identity. They will apply their findings to three likely outcomes: conflict, cooperation and convergence.

They will identify the circumstances in which political changes have shaped EU-Turkey relations, and could continue to do so. For example, they aim to identify key drivers of economic cohesion since 1999 and define the likely scenarios for this relationship.

They will study the ways in which security interests and perceived threats have shaped relations since 1999, to assess how the two sides interpret major global and regional security issues. The researchers will also analyse EU-Turkey collaboration on energy and climate change.

In terms of migration, they will determine how the relationship has been affected by asylum seekers, the migration of skilled EU workers to Turkey, and the irregular migration of third-country nationals from Turkey to the EU. The project will also assess the evolution of mutual perceptions of identity as a factor in the ongoing relationship.

Based on their studies, the researchers will examine the most likely directions for relations between the EU and Turkey and their roles in their respective regions. The resulting recommendations will be communicated to policymakers to help them overcome challenges and exploit opportunities in future EU-Turkey relations.